I found this giant shiitake mushroom swimming in a sea of average sized shrooms in the bulk mushrooms bin at Whole Foods. I had just seen the movie Alice in Wonderland, so when I spotted this mysterious, over sized, fluffy fungi, I expected a giant smoke-puffing blue caterpillar to crawl out from beneath the cap and say, "Whooo are youuu?" I confirmed the shroom was indeed vacant and stuffed it into my cart, taking extra care of its wide squishy self.

How Big? This hefty shiitake is as large as a portabella and stretches over 4 inches wide. It towers over a quarter coin. It's the biggest shiitake I've ever held in my hands. Almost too beautiful to eat! Almost.

Eat Your Mushrooms. Hopefully, you read my Vitamin D post a few weeks back and learned that mushrooms are the only fruit or veggie that contain natural vitamin D, an important vitamin that many of us are deficient in. Reminder: eat your mushrooms for health. And to help you out, here is my list of Twenty Ways to Cook with Mushrooms. Plus 3 bonus recipes. And more super sized mushroom photos...

Directions: Saute mushrooms and onions in oiled pan. After about 2 minutes, add in the vinegar and parsley. Saute for a few more minutes - until edges of shrooms start to crisp.
Spoon about 1 Tbsp of shrooms onto each slice of baguette bread. Serve. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Roasted Mushrooms

To Make: Simply toss your mushrooms in a few tablespoons of EVOO and a few tablespoons of vinegar - a dash of course sea salt and a lot of black pepper. Broil on high for 25 minutes. You can also roast with other veggies like tomatoes, onions, potatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus or eggplant.

Wine Marinated Mushrooms

In small bowl, add 1/4 cup of wine, 2 Tbsp EVOO, pinch salt and pepper and mushrooms and allow to marinade for 20 minutes before sauteing. The cooked wine will bring out a very savory deep flavor in the shrooms. You can also add the wine right to the pan during a normal shroom saute, but in very small increments. Proceed with caution when sauteing with alcohol. Start off on a low heat. I like to use red wine with mushrooms, but white works as well. Do not use cooking wine. Day old drinking wine is best - use your leftovers instead of tossing day old wine.

And yes, I enjoyed Alice in Wonderland very much. In 3D it was awesome. Fun flick and the Mad Hatter was fabulous. *movie poster by Disney.

A Giant Shiitake Mushroom and Twenty Ways to Cook it.

I found this giant shiitake mushroom swimming in a sea of average sized shrooms in the bulk mushrooms bin at Whole Foods. I had just seen the movie Alice in Wonderland, so when I spotted this mysterious, over sized, fluffy fungi, I expected a giant smoke-puffing blue caterpillar to crawl out from beneath the cap and say, "Whooo are youuu?" I confirmed the shroom was indeed vacant and stuffed it into my cart, taking extra care of its wide squishy self.

How Big? This hefty shiitake is as large as a portabella and stretches over 4 inches wide. It towers over a quarter coin. It's the biggest shiitake I've ever held in my hands. Almost too beautiful to eat! Almost.

Eat Your Mushrooms. Hopefully, you read my Vitamin D post a few weeks back and learned that mushrooms are the only fruit or veggie that contain natural vitamin D, an important vitamin that many of us are deficient in. Reminder: eat your mushrooms for health. And to help you out, here is my list of Twenty Ways to Cook with Mushrooms. Plus 3 bonus recipes. And more super sized mushroom photos...

Directions: Saute mushrooms and onions in oiled pan. After about 2 minutes, add in the vinegar and parsley. Saute for a few more minutes - until edges of shrooms start to crisp.
Spoon about 1 Tbsp of shrooms onto each slice of baguette bread. Serve. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Roasted Mushrooms

To Make: Simply toss your mushrooms in a few tablespoons of EVOO and a few tablespoons of vinegar - a dash of course sea salt and a lot of black pepper. Broil on high for 25 minutes. You can also roast with other veggies like tomatoes, onions, potatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus or eggplant.

Wine Marinated Mushrooms

In small bowl, add 1/4 cup of wine, 2 Tbsp EVOO, pinch salt and pepper and mushrooms and allow to marinade for 20 minutes before sauteing. The cooked wine will bring out a very savory deep flavor in the shrooms. You can also add the wine right to the pan during a normal shroom saute, but in very small increments. Proceed with caution when sauteing with alcohol. Start off on a low heat. I like to use red wine with mushrooms, but white works as well. Do not use cooking wine. Day old drinking wine is best - use your leftovers instead of tossing day old wine.